Monday, 31 August 2015

a tropical sea, a lost treasure and a desert island: perfect ingredients for an adventure

I’m not going to try to tell the stories behind these pictures - decide for yourself what is going on if you feel so inclined. That way if you get a horrible fright, you’ll have no-one to blame but yourself!

At Ledmore and Migdale on Saturday with the Woodland Trust, we braved midges and ticks to reveal the hitherto unknown tales of the Migdale Worm and the Spinningdale Ghost Train. There was the Caterpillar Fairy, issues about tooth-fairies for trolls, friendships between kelpies and wolves and a few stray zombies. One of my toad cousins wandered through for a visit and various beetles dropped in and trundled through…..

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

In an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of, and protest
against, the illegal killing of Hen Harriers largely on Grouse Moors in
England, HHD, in
just 2 years, has become a rallying and renewing day. A day to set people fuming
again but also to inspire and empower them

More of a weekend than a day (pitched in August to clash
with the (in)Glorious 12th when certain people (I’m being very restrained,
aren't I) take guns and go and blast the life out of lots of Red Grouse who
never did them any harm

There's
one thing more needing mention

The
ghosts in the grey skies above

The
heather-brown harriers floating

The
loss of these birds that we love

(a Calling-on Song for Hen Harriers)

banners in Pavilion Gardens

(I ended up running around too much to take many photos so will start with these few and hope to add more....anyone got some to recommend?)

I have been involved in both of the Peak District HHDs. This
year my wonderful friend Susan Cross and I recited poems as part of an evening
entertainment on Saturday night - c300 folk in the Palace Hotel! Exciting
speakers: Mark Avery, Mark Cocker, Chris Packham, Jeremy Deller - and us! Thanks to the RSPB for an inspiring presentation and the Wilde family for strong young voices and magnificent constructions. There was almost too much going on to capture the moments: an evening of richness on all sorts of levels and unexpected generosities - Jeremy Deller being stampeded when he offered to print and sign pieces of work there and then. I don't think anyone anticipated a bigger queue for Jeremy's work than for the bar!

our Harriers were evocative if not exactly accurate

Susan and I offered a poetic introduction to the Peak District with the Calling-on Song for Hen Harriers quoted here and extracts from Gawain and the Green Knight as a poem that evokes our rocky landscapes and the value of the noble quest - in the original Middle English. My tongue is still relishing

rughe
knokled knarrez with knorned stonez

On Sunday, while some 500 people were gathering the Goyt
Valley, Sarah Males and I were down in Buxton's Pavilion Gardens as part of
the "what is all this?" team - making finger puppet hen harriers,
talking to people, raising awareness…..There was also a "thunderclap tweet"
on Sunday morning: 5.7 million tweets

This isn't a campaigning blog and the unfolding of these
issues could spin on over days….

Act again: if you are feeling motivated, aggravated and
possibly angry, why not write

to your local MP - what is being done to protect
such precious animals and their associated habitats

to your Local and County Councillors - are they supporting or endorsing Grouse Moors and alleged continued illegal management
practices?

to local landowners - you do hope, most sincerely, that they are not
supporting such practices and that there are more ecologically sensible ways of working with the land

If local landowners are titled, and have seats in
the House of Lords, write to them there, copy in your MP.

Act even more: stir things up and
keep the cauldron simmering

Act even more than that: talk to people

Hen Harrier country is also good for bumblebees

And then: just
get out there and look, listen, touch and sniff: enjoy the landscapes
around us - our active appreciation is important - remind yourself that
we live in a world worth celebrating - and fighting forExplore and support: there
are T-shirts to buy (and wear), mugs to drink out of, badges to
emblazon your lapels with - visit some of the links on this post, or
spread your fine long wings and go gliding across the web-worldThere are too many people to thank for the heroic work that put these events together but thanks to all of them anyway! And take a look at Birders Against Wildlife Crime!

Coming soon:

a set of posts with our various Hen Harrier activities:
finger puppets, origami, flags, kites, standards, and skydancer mobiles